JUST like last week, if you want to see planets this week you'll have to stay up very late or get up very early, because all the action is taking place in the morning sky, in the hours before dawn.

But if you want to see the planets you'll need a very low, very flat eastern horizon; if your skyline in that direction has trees, houses or whopping big fells on it then they will hide the planets from view.

To see these planets you'll have to set your alarm for 05:00, wrap up in your warmest coat and head out.

Look towards the east, where the sky is beginning to brighten with the approach of sunrise, and you'll see a bright "star" low down in the sky.

This is the planet Venus, currently a bright "Morning Star" - and it has company.

Look a little closer, and providing you haven't left it too late to go out you'll see a pair of "stars" to the right of Venus, at roughly the same height.

These are also planets, Mars and Saturn. Mars is the closer of the pair to Saturn and has an orange hue. To its right you'll see yellow-white Saturn, which will look brighter than Mars. If you're

And, if you're lucky with the weather and sky conditions, you might just be able to see Jupiter before sunrise too, down to the lower left of Venus, but the brightening sky may well wash it from view.

If you can't pick out Mars, Jupiter and Saturn with your naked eye, try scanning the sky on either side of Venus with a pair of binoculars, and they should pop into view.

But do not look for them once the Sun is above the horizon, in case you accidentally look at the Sun.

That would damage your eyesight and maybe even blind you.